DR. SHU-YUNG WANG, 85, CARING SURGEON, TEACHER

After more than four decades practicing and teaching medicine in Chicago, Dr. Shu-Yung Wang, 85, distinguished himself as a caregiver--in and out of the operating room.

As a surgeon, Dr. Wang was eminently skilled in the fields of maxillofacial and plastic surgery, helping to advance new techniques in skin grafting and other areas. Beyond the operating room, he was known for his generosity and sensitive manner, quick to offer patients a ride or a new coat.

After retiring in 1984 to Colorado Springs, Colo., Dr. Wang died Aug. 26 in his home.

"He really talked to people. He really answered questions," said his daughter Sheila. "And he made people feel unafraid."

Dr. Wang was born in Wuxi, China, the youngest of nine children. After growing up as a son of a municipal official, Dr. Wang enrolled in dental school in Nanjing.

As the threat of Japanese invasion grew, Dr. Wang and other students fled to Chengdu, where he continued his education by going to medical school.

Dr. Wang continued to practice his other interests outside of medicine, including Chinese opera and table tennis.

In 1944, Dr. Wang left for the United States, where he began a medical residency at the University of Michigan. About that time he saw Lonny Myers, an emerging physician and tennis player from Hartford, Conn.

"He went out and got a tennis racket," his daughter said, "and just started to hit off the wall until he asked her to play tennis."

The two married in 1949.

While pursuing post-graduate work, Dr. Wang received an invitation to join the University of Chicago as a professor of surgery. A devoted lifelong student, Dr. Wang continued to study medicine between teaching responsibilities.

"The nurses would get confused because at one point he would be the student and at another he would be the professor," his daughter said.

Over the decades, Dr. Wang served as a surgeon and professor at many area hospitals, including Christ Hospital and Medical Center in Oak Lawn. Tales of his kind bedside manner were legendary, relatives said.

"My dad didn't tell me these stories, but people who knew him would tell me stories everywhere I went," his daughter said.

Other survivors include his wife; three daughters, Sharon, Susan and Sandra; a son, Sherwood; a sister, Shu-Ming Wang; and eight grandchildren.

Services were held in Colorado, and a service is planned for Connecticut.